Real and imagined disasters

"Don't go to the mall, the terrorists will attack," my cleaning woman warned me last week.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked her.

"The radio," she answered.

I shook my head. The week before, she told me that someone told her to pray more often because the world was about to end, with the volcanic eruptions, flooding, earthquakes, and other natural disasters occurring all over the world as a portent of things to come. I told her that that was the plot of several disaster movies but that she should pray if it makes her feel better.

I don't understand the big deal about travel warnings being issued by several foreign countries about traveling in the Philippines. I've always felt that after the 9/11 attacks, no place in the world is completely safe. We've all had to deal with the measures supposedly designed to make the world safer from determined terrorists, including having our bags inspected at the mall (an inconvenience when we are rushing) and security guards staring at our faces (checking if we look like potential terrorists?) as we enter the airport. It is good to be vigilant against these constant threats but there is no point in being afraid.

I'm more worried about the pronouncements of President Noynoy Aquino's officials and their promotion of mining in the country. It is a prescription for disaster that we can all prevent. We only have to think of the Marcopper mining disaster in Marinduque and how its rivers remain poisoned over 14 years after the mine tailings polluted them.

Shortly after President Aquino assumed office, an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) was issued to a mining company in Palawan. Palawan officials protested because the local government had refused to endorse the project. Environmentalists protested because Palawan was declared a UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve and the ECC allowed mining in areas with virgin forests and high biodiversity.

In other parts of the Philippines, communities continue to protest mining in their areas. National officials, including those from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, claim that mining should be allowed so foreign investors will not be scared off. They claim that the monetary benefits that mining will supposedly bring in makes the activity worthwhile. After the dramatic rescue of miners in Chile, some DENR officials were even quoted as saying that that kind of disaster would never happen in the Visayas. I thought of all the news articles of trapped miners in the Philippines who never got to see daylight again and concluded that their memories are too short.

 I do not like the way that pro-mining advocates pretend as if ores will be the only thing taken with mining. Mining also means cutting down thousands of hectares of our remaining forests, destroying fragile ecosystems in the process. We only have to see pictures of the recent flooding in Cagayan, Isabela, and Aurora to remind us that no trees means nothing can hold the rainwater in the mountains. No trees also means nothing can stop the mountain from becoming a landslide. We only have to remember what happened in Gen. Nakar, Quezon not too long ago.

I wish there were a way to protect the innocent from the destructive consequences of mining and just let those responsible for it (including those who buy stock in mining companies) suffer the consequences of future disasters. Those who think that mining brings no harm should be the first to drink from rivers polluted by mine tailings. And live at the foot of mountains ready to topple.

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